Study: Emergency Responders Unprepared

I will say up front that this is very factual, and accurate. Although I am not a first emergency responder, I am involved with HAZMAT, and and have
been "volunteered" in times of Orange or higher alert to be a backup for HAZMAT, and can say that most emergency services have about barebones
ability with regards to the day to day emergencies that arise in a decent sized city, much less dealing with a mass casualty event with WMDs in
multiple locations.

WASHINGTON - Nearly two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States remains "dangerously unprepared" to handle another catastrophic attack,
according to a study by the Council on Foreign Relations.

The government says it already has done some of what the council suggested and is working on other recommendations.

The report said the main problem is that emergency responders on the front lines — police, fire, public health and other officials — are drastically
underfinanced and lack the equipment or training they need.

The council, a New York-based private world affairs advocacy organization, recommended spending $98 billion beyond the $27 billion it said the federal
government planned to spend on first responders over the next five years.

Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Sunday that the conclusion that an additional $98 billion is needed for
first responders is "grossly inflated." He said officials already have implemented or are in the process of putting in effect others of the
report's suggestions.

The council, a New York-based private world affairs advocacy organization, recommended spending $98 billion beyond the $27 billion it said the
federal government planned to spend on first responders over the next five years.

Well the CFR is as much illuminati as the bilderbergs. BTW WTF is a "world affairs advocacy organization"? They advocate for WORLDLY AFFAIRS.
They are globally-minded, seeing things from a macro level.

And now we have someone (Gordon Johndroe) from the Dept of Homeland Security admitting that this White House Dept is actually following the CFR's
advice. But is Johndroe himself connected? What is his history, to be the spokesperson for homeland security?

President Bush is actively involved in "monitoring and assessing" the developments in the Middle East from his ranch in Crawford, Texas
where he is spending the Easter weekend, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters at an early morning briefing in Crawford March 29.

In order to deploy such a system, known as Total Information Awareness, new legislation
would be needed, some of which has been proposed by the Bush administration in the
Homeland Security Act that is now before Congress. That legislation would amend the
Privacy Act of 1974, which was intended to limit what government agencies could do with
private information.

A spokesman for the White House Office of Homeland Security, Gordon Johndroe, said
officials in the office were not familiar with the computer project and he declined to
discuss concerns raised by the project's critics without knowing more about it.

He referred all questions to the Defense Department, where officials said they could not
address civil liberties concerns because they too were not familiar enough with the
project.

And FINALLY.... here is our friend Mr. Johndroe admitting that science needs to be restrained for security reasons....

Responding to the statement, Gordon D. Johndroe, a spokesman for the White House Office of Homeland Security, said: "We continue to work with
the scientific community to strike the appropriate balance between national security information that must be held close and scientific information
that should be available for research purposes."

You know, I saw that CFR thing on cspan the other day and as a certified EMT (volunteer) it obviously made me stop flipping channels for a few
moments. I found it interesting that CFR is involved in this stuff. However the main point of the situation was true. Emergency workers were, and
still are, unprepared for an Mass casualty incident. Worse than most of you think. My personal suggestion coming from someone who was there, and
someone who has been on thousands of other calls... try a radio system that won't fizzle out when people panic. Then worry about suggestions from
groups with interesting motives. If people listened to the WORKERS who are out in the field daily, these emergency responders would be in much better
shape.

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